This story holds a special place in my heart because it was really the turning point in not just my Neopets writing, but my writing career as a whole. Finishing this story helped me realize that I could actually write substantial stories start-to-finish - that long-form fiction wasn't an impossibly daunting task - and it inspired me to keep working on my novels.
It was also the Neopian Times story that truly served as the catalyst for nearly everything that came after. With it, I tapped into a world and a cast that I became so deeply interested in that I couldn't help but want to explore them further, and the whole thing kept building on itself like some kind of wonderful literary snowball.
Ever since I'd adopted Dark_breed_Hyren as a teenager, I'd wanted him to have some sort of cool mysterious past, probably involving combat training because he was my dedicated Battledome pet. But everything I tried to come up with was kinda lame. After I took a break from Neopets for a while and came back to it in college, I found myself tinkering with the idea again, and settled on something that I actually liked--and that gave Hyren a lot of great character development. (And Blynn and Terra too, I guess. And also the Werelupe King? But that has more to do with "Worth Searching For" so I'll talk about that later.)
Another side note to this story is that I wrote it while going through an extremely rough college semester fraught with health issues and prodigious amounts of unnecessary stress (I don't recommend attempting that, not worth it). Plotting this story out in my head, and writing it down when I had the time, gave me something to cling to when it felt like the rest of the world had gone insane. So I have to credit this story for doing that. (Although nowadays I've learned that it's much pleasanter and more efficient to just take better care of yourself in the first place.)
Please note that this story does not read the same as what got published in the Neopian Times. I edited it quite a bit to bring it more up to speed with my current writing skills, and made it less intense because nobody needs that, seriously.
Enjoy!
Hyren woke up to voices outside his door.
“Hey, Blynn, isn’t tomorrow Grundo Independence Day?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah! It is! How about that!”
The diminutive blue Grundo rolled over in his bed to stare
out the window of his room. Kreludor was almost full and high in the sky,
casting its silver light across softly undulating hills and towering cypress
trees. His family had moved to Altador some years ago, from Mystery Island. His
owner had been ecstatic over the rediscovery of a lost civilisation. Hyren was
more excited to live in a place where it didn’t rain several times daily.
“What do you think Hyren wants to do tomorrow?” Hyren’s
brother Pharazon asked from out in the hall. “Maybe we should throw him a
surprise party!” The faerie Draik’s tone was hushed but eager—he obviously
thought Hyren was asleep.
“Ooh! Awesome idea!” their sister Blynn said. The disco
Zafara, on the other hand, had a distinct lack of volume control.
Hyren smiled. With Blynn and Pharazon in cahoots, a party
for him would be quite interesting indeed.
Not that he really made a point to celebrate Grundo
Independence Day. The whole idea seemed kind of self-centered, and Hyren was
not one to seek the spotlight. At least not these days. But if his family wanted
to make a fuss over him, he had learned it was futile to try to stop them, so
he would go along with it for their sake.
Blynn’s voice faded as she moved down the hall and belted
out a rather off-key rendition of The
Ballad of Rosie the Grarrl. “Ohhh, when the Kau Slips are in blooooom, and the Peadackles crooooon…”
Hyren winced. Blynn was not known for her singing skills.
Not that she let that stop her.
“Now would be the perfect opportunity to do some research on
traditional Kreludan cuisine!” Pharazon said as he followed her. “Not to mention
the cultural origins of royal Grundo attire! I wonder if there’s anything about
that in our library—oh, this will be the greatest Grundo Independence Day
Hyren’s ever known!”
Hyren chuckled, flopping onto his back and closing his eyes.
Memories flooded his mind. Pharazon had no idea of the irony of that statement,
because Hyren’s day of independence had come somewhat later.
***
“Fifty seconds to deployment,” a tinny, robotic voice fizzed
over the comm.
“Roger,” Commander Hyren said, clamping one large mutant Grundo hand over his helmet. He checked the straps on his armour one last time,
shifting his position on one of the carrier ship’s cold metal benches. The
diagnostic heads-up display on his helmet’s visor confirmed that everything
checked out.
Dr. Sloth was returning to Neopia, and this time, he and his
army would not fail.
It was an honor for Hyren to have been chosen to lead the
space contingent of his overlord’s elite invasion troops into battle at Sakhmet,
especially considering Hyren’s species. Commander Gormos was jealous, of
course, and Commander Garoo was not much happier—even though he had the
prestige of being the first to the planet with Sloth’s ground forces.
But Hyren had taken over a thousand worlds under Sloth’s
banner since that fateful day on Doran when the Grundo had willingly pledged
himself to the scientist’s quest for dominion, knowing Sloth could make more of
him than anything on Hyren’s boring homeworld. If anyone deserved the glory of
this day, it was Sloth’s most valuable and productive commanding officer.
Back at the beginning of Hyren’s military career, Sloth had
mutated him anyway, but allowed him to keep his mind. “You are going to be very
useful to me,” the green-skinned supergenius said on that day long ago as Hyren
inspected his new form, so much larger and stronger than what he was used to. “I
will give you all the power you could ever desire, Hyren,” Sloth told him. “In
return, all I ask is that you never renounce your loyalty to me.The day you do
will be the day you draw your last breath.”
Hyren was made perfect for conquest. He flexed his meaty
fingers in front of him. He didn’t miss his weak blue body a bit.
“Thirty seconds.”
The constant dull roar of the engines was joined by the
thrumming whine of shields that protected the massive craft from the heat of
atmospheric entry. The turbulence of hitting air after the cruise through the
vacuum of space made the ship rattle, and Hyren reached up and grabbed one of
the support straps that hung from the ceiling. A few more moments and it would
be over. He’d gone through this routine countless times before.
“Twenty seconds.”
The shaking lessened and the ship veered, sending Hyren
leaning against the shoulder of the trooper next to him. The other mutant did
not react in the slightest.
Hyren glanced up at the row of expressionless Grundo faces
in front of him. It was a little strange to realise that none of them remembered
their home world like he did, and had only enough cognitive ability remaining
to aim a blaster and follow orders. Perhaps Hyren had known some of them back
on planet Doran. But they’d never understood him, anyway. And now they never
would.
“Ten seconds. Prepare for deployment.”
At the end of the bay, next to where Hyren sat, a large door
swung open. Bright daylight and hot, dry, sandy air peeled into the regulated
atmosphere of the ship. Hyren squinted against the light for a moment before his
visor automatically darkened to ease his seeing.
The commander stood up and sent the neural signal through
his helmet for his troops to do the same. Gripping a handhold on the inside
hull, Hyren planted his two-toed feet on the floor and watched as other ships
circled and dove toward a walled city of alabaster spires and gleaming golden
domes. The battle going on below had been instigated by the ground division a few
days previous, leaving Sakhmet already smoking. Undoubtedly, the beleaguered
inhabitants would point up at the black fleet and wonder what it was, not
comprehending that it would be their doom.
The city wall provided an ineffectual defence against an
attack from the sky, and the carriers swooped low over the ancient stone to
land. The commander counted the remaining seconds in his head, then— “All
troops, move out!” Hyren roared, leaping from the bay. His weight impacted the
parched ground and kicked up clouds of dust.
Shouts of chaos and the unsteady rhythm of blaster fire filled
Hyren’s antennae as he sent the order for two of his squadron to flank him and
the rest to fall behind. He headed them toward the largest building in the city,
and anyone who got in their way was quickly disarmed, stunned, and carried back
to the dropships. If they could seize the palace, the rest of this backwards
land would follow, and the planet soon after. And Hyren didn’t want the honor
of this conquest to go to Garoo.
“Spread out into the streets!” Hyren barked into his helmet.
“Loot every building, take as many prisoners as possible!” The palace was
important, but Sloth would be doubly pleased if Hyren made sure to collect a trove
of valuable treasures and new test subjects for him.
And sure, Hyren could have just thought the order, but
voicing it as well seemed to add more impact. He found he could never quite get
used to thinking of other living beings as mere machines under his control, no
matter how easy that was for Sloth. The other Grundos’ minds were still in
there somewhere, after all.
“Hyren!” Garoo’s voice shouted into the Grundo’s helmet.
“Took you long enough! You should get your warp drives checked!”
“The warp drives are fine!” Hyren replied, knowing Garoo was
just fishing for an excuse to criticize him. “We got here right on schedule!”
The Grundo and his troops pushed past another wave of defenders. The Neopets in
this part of the city were better-trained, a mix of royal guards and warriors
who likely had come from other areas of Neopia to help. Sakhmet was proving
surprisingly resistant. But Hyren loved a good challenge.
“Are you going to the palace?” Garoo asked. “Don’t take the
main road! It’s been blockaded and we can’t get past! Go through the side
streets to the west!”
“Roger!” Hyren said. He could indeed see more fighting up
ahead, so he turned down a narrow alleyway and some of his Grundos followed. On
his HUD map he saw the rest of them swarming like insects, turning in a massive
wave away from the wide main street to trickle down side lanes.
“I’ve just got word from Sloth!” Garoo said. “He says to
capture as many test subjects as possible! He wants to make Neopia pay for what
they did to his last plans! Search those apartments—looks like there’s plenty
in there!”
Hyren found it a little odd that Sloth would have Garoo
relay these orders to him instead of telling him directly – he and Garoo were
equal in rank, after all – but in the heat of battle Hyren thought little of
it. They all had to work together to make sure Sloth’s plans didn’t fail. The
commander kicked down the nearest wooden door and smashed aside a hasty
barricade of crates. Behind it stood a green Techo pointing an arrow at his
face. Next to the Techo, a purple Scorchio hefted a battle hammer.
“Leave us alone!” the Scorchio said, flapping her wings and
swinging the hammer around to swipe at Hyren’s legs. He dove and tackled her to
the ground.
The Techo unleashed a hail of arrows, but Hyren threw up his
arm and they pinged off of his gauntlet. He picked up the Scorchio and shoved
her toward the other Neopet. The Techo tried to catch her, but they both were
sent tumbling.
Hyren felt an obnoxious clang on the back of his helmet and
it took him a moment to register he’d just been struck. Spinning around, he lunged
for his attacker, wrenching the wooden pole out of her hand.
This being was not a Neopet. She was taller than most pet
species, mammalian with smooth bronze skin and long black hair. She looked at
him in terror and said, “Sloth—Sloth came back!”
“That’s right, owner,” Hyren said, narrowing his eyes. Dr. Sloth
had a special hate reserved for owners. They had foiled his plans the first
time around and freed a large portion of his Grundo army, and had fallen under
the auspices of his greatest nemesis, the Space Faerie.
Hyren was suddenly tackled from behind by the two Neopets.
He grappled with them for a few seconds before he roared and rolled over,
pinning them beneath one large hand and tearing their weapons away. The
commander picked them up and handed them to one of his troopers while another
grabbed the owner.
Hyren gave the other Grundos the order to take their
prisoners back to the ship, and exused himself to continue searching the house.
In reality, he found he didn’t want to see the looks on the Sakhmetians’ faces.
Hyren was just glad he didn’t really have to deal with those they conquered
outside of battle. It was easier not to think about it and just go on with his
job.
The sounds of battle outside intensified as the commander
climbed to the second floor alone. The air shook with regular explosions and
occasionally the entire building rocked, sand and debris blowing in through the
open windows.
Ripping a curtain off of its rings, Hyren stalked through the
entryway at the top of the stairs and into a simple living area. Antennae low,
he scanned the room with his bio-sensors. No signs of life, but perhaps that
family had been hiding treasure. He knelt down on the floor and moved to check
under the bed.
“We’re pulling out, Hyren,” Garoo’s voice snapped through the
comm.
“Wait—what?!” Hyren replied.
“They have reinforcements coming in from the north!” Garoo
said. “We’re vastly outnumbered!”
“Garoo!” Hyren groaned. “I thought you said you had
everything under control when I was on my way here!” He scooted out from under
the bed and bumped his helmet on the underside, hissing in annoyance. “Fine,
I’ll redirect the troops—“
A deafening boom
sounded. The entire building shuddered and rippled, swaying like it was made of
jelly. Dust sifted from the ceiling as Hyren staggered to stand, and he looked
up and saw a swarm of black ships retreating into the sky.
“You misunderstand me, Hyren,” Garoo said, his voice
suddenly taking on a sinister edge. “We’re leaving right now.”
Hyren glanced at the corner of his HUD and saw that Garoo
was using a private channel. “What are you doing?!” the Grundo yelled.
“Seizing my opportunity,” Garoo said. “Thankfully for me,
you don’t question orders. You’re still just as dumb as any other Grundo. Once
you’re gone, who do you think Sloth will give your troops to?”
Hyren scowled. “You slimehead!” he said as he stumbled down
the stairs, clinging to the wall of the swaying building. “Sloth’s going to be
furious if you lose one of his other commanders!”
Garoo snickered. “For all Sloth knows,” he said, “I did
everything I could to save you. Nice knowing you.”
The roof cracked and buckled, and the last thing Hyren
remembered was pain.
***
As he came back into consciousness, Hyren’s head rang as
though he was trapped in a world of cacophony. He lay there for a moment,
astonished that he was alive, and in too much pain and disorientation to do
much else.
After a few moments, the clamor began to resolve into
voices.
“How many did they take?” someone said.
“Initial reports are saying a hundred… possibly a hundred
fifty,” said someone else. “And they left many more wounded.”
Hyren realised that he was trapped under something heavy and
angular—the ruins of the ceiling. Thank the fates his armour had held. He
opened his eyes. All was dark and cold, and the air smelled of dust, sweat, and
fire. His HUD was blank and not even the hiss of static came from the comm
channel. The electronics were likely scrambled.
“Yikes. Any way to track them?” asked the first voice.
“Not that the authorities know of, according to Coltzan,”
said the other. “The strike force vanished into deep space, past the Space Station’s tracking abilities.”
“Those poor pets and owners. Do you think the Space Faerie
will do something about it?”
“I sure hope so. She’s helped in the past, anyway.”
“Well, the legends do say she appears to valiant Neopets in
their time of greatest need. Let’s just hope those legends are true.”
The voices came closer, and Hyren heard the grinding sound
of shifting brick and the clatter of wood and pottery. In spite of the pain, he
struggled to move, but the rubble had him hemmed in on all sides.
“What’s—did you hear something?” one of the voices asked.
“Yeah, over there!”
Chunks of the debris on top of Hyren slid aside, allowing flickering
firelight to reach his vision. A low growl emitted from his throat, ashamed at
being found like a child who was a poor sport at hide-and-seek.
“Good gracious!” said a green Quiggle holding a torch as she
used her free webbed hand to try to clear more of the collapsed ceiling. “There’s
someone under here! Hurry!”
A burly red Kau appeared in Hyren’s field of view, helping the
Quiggle clear away pieces of brick. “Are they—“ he began to say. The two
stopped cold, their eyes growing wide as they stared down at their unusual
discovery.
Hyren seized that opportunity. Ignoring his wounds and his
aching head, he burst out of the remaining rubble. His two “rescuers” stumbled
back with shouts of surprise. And then Hyren ran. His scientifically-enhanced
stamina would carry him through the burst of adrenaline until he could find a
more opportune time to be out of commission.
“It’s one of Sloth’s troops! Get him!” the Kau said. Out of
the corners of his vision, Hyren saw other Neopets begin to converge on him.
Some of them had weapons, some of them had shovels and other tools they were
wielding as weapons, and none of them looked happy to see him.
The commander was proud, but he also wasn’t stupid, and he
knew when he was outmatched. Dodging the swing of an Aisha’s scimitar, he used
the momentum to vault himself onto a Skeith’s broad back and spring from there
onto a low veranda. The footing was poor, and his tough bare feet scraped away
stucco as he pulled himself onto a balcony.
“Blasted city,” he muttered, swinging his leg over the ledge
and dropping onto the terrace. The wall wasn’t much farther away now.
Neither was a trio of Eyries carrying spears. Letting out cries
that pierced through the air, they swooped down on him. Hyren lifted a large
urn by the doorway beside him and used it as a shield to deflect the foremost
Eyrie’s attack and push her off course. She screeched in annoyance as she
tumbled through the air. Her two wingpets arched around for another pass.
That was all the time Hyren needed to push off the edge of
the balcony and lunge for the building next door, pulling himself onto the roof.
He took off at a sprint, bounding from rooftop to rooftop towards the city wall.
In the moonlight, he could adequately see the path ahead and judge how much
energy to expend, when to jump and where. His body screamed for rest, but to
shift to a lower gear now would mean the end.
The Eyries shrieked again as they closed in. Hyren reached
for the sword that usually sat at his back—and felt nothing. It must have been
left behind in the debris of the building. He groaned, but he couldn’t go back
for it now. Instead he pulled his blaster from its holster – at least that was
still there – and checked the power levels. It still worked.
Hyren twisted around and aimed a few shots at the Eyries,
clumsy but hopefully enough to get them to back off. Hyren had never been the
best marksman - he preferred close combat where he could take advantage of his
brute strength - but one of the blaster bolts connected and an Eyrie crumpled
to the previous rooftop, stunned.
And suddenly Hyren reached the wall. Promising his aching
body it could rest soon, the commander spotted a damaged portion of the thick
rampart and leaped. For one breathless moment he felt frozen in the air,
glancing down at a dumbfounded mob of pets in the tiny alley below.
Then Hyren landed, slipping on the crumbling stone and
plummeting toward the sand. He tucked himself into a roll, clenching his teeth
as his bruised shoulder absorbed the shock of the fall, then sprang up and took
off again. It hadn’t exactly been graceful, but it had gotten him out of
Sakhmet.
“Quick, let’s go after him!” one of the Eyries said to her
superior as Hyren escaped into the night.
“No need,” their leader said. “He won’t last long out there.
And Sloth is light-years away. This guy is on his own.”
Her last words bit into Hyren’s mind as he crested a sand
dune and slid down the other side, falling to his knees at the base, his chest
heaving as the pain returned in full force. On his own. He was alone. Alone on a hostile planet he was
supposed to have helped conquer.
Hyren craned his neck to look at the vast night sky, full of
other worlds he had subjugated for Sloth. Somewhere, out there, was a
spacefleet that had left behind one of its most elite officers. Did they even
bother looking for him before they retreated? Garoo would have dissuaded them,
Hyren thought bitterly, clenching a handful of sand in his fist and squeezing
the grains to distract himself from his rage. Garoo would be all too quick to
announce his fellow commander’s demise—and then take Hyren’s troops and his
share of Sloth’s favour.
With an angry shout, Hyren threw the sand down and sat back
on the dune, rubbing his thick arms to try to keep himself warm. After all Hyren
had done for Sloth, the man didn’t even feel it necessary to attempt to save
him. Hyren had built up a reputation of power only to be discarded like a
broken toy. With these thoughts circling in his mind, the commander’s fatigue
finally took over and he closed his eyes, lulled to sleep by the singing of the
night wind across the desert.
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