"Engulfed in flame
and submerging down to hell.
His Integrity will remain
This he will not sell"
Monoth Tales, by Kareem Rahman
CHAPTER 1
Sceptor—golden child of the outer colonies—was, in this moment, anything but. Fire and molten stone swallowed its streets, and the air hung thick with ash and the stench of death. To the north, the colony’s once‑scenic canyons smoldered beneath a burning ocean. In the heart of the settlement, its people—once hopeful, idealistic, drunk on the promise of frontier freedom—now fled for their lives.
Qaurith Haymeck, a drifter from the settled worlds, did not flee with them. He couldn’t. The devastation’s aftermath clawed at him, refusing to be ignored. He moved through the chaos with the instinct of someone who had spent a lifetime surviving alone, yet who would risk everything to save a stranger as readily as he would his own kin.
“Help!”
To most of the fleeing colonists, the cry was no louder than the rasp of a dying insect—heard, perhaps, but impossible to heed with death snapping at their heels. Compassion was a luxury none of them could afford. Better to save those who still had a chance.
But to Qaurith, the sound was unmistakable. And the action required was simple.
The girl beneath the collapsed building looked like a scene from a tragedy: small, still, half‑buried. At first he thought he was staring at her remains. Then she moved—barely—and he realized she was alive, though her bruised, dust‑coated body made her seem more corpse than child.
“Damn it,” he muttered.
She lifted her head, her face pale and streaked with blood like torn red paper.
“Where’s… mommy?” she gasped.
“Don’t worry. We’re getting out of here. You hear me? We’re getting out, and everything’s gonna be okay.” His voice was firm, steady—the tone one uses with a friend who needs to believe the lie.
Qaurith planted his feet and gripped the slab pinning her down. With a grunt, he heaved upward. For a man who had relied on no one since he was twelve, the girl was a mirror—of his past, of the life he never chose, of the harshness he’d endured alone. She deserved better. She deserved a chance he never had.
The rubble shifted. Smoke thickened. The lava’s glow crept closer, radiating heat so fierce it felt like a hand pressed against his skin. No colonists passed them anymore.
He strained harder. The debris finally gave way. Scooping the girl into one arm, he sprinted toward the transports. Above the settlement, a swarm of ships rose into the sky.
He cursed under his breath. He hoped he wasn’t too late.
In that moment, the prosperous colony of Sceptor was anything but.
