ORIGIN

Mother!!

Meanwhile, Lulu finally reached Aquapolis. The water planet was a beautiful light purple and teal with a thick cloud layer. When the ship reached the surface, which was boisterous, it went through the water with a huge splash. Under the surface was a city that looked like a massive network of corals clustered with lights and swarming with marine ships. But when they got to a checkpoint near the busy capital, they were approached by the members of a secret coalition Ezrith's mother had started. Its members had already gotten word that Ezrith was coming. But his mother had already left the planet and was headed to a secret space station in the same space district. But the people kindly warned Ezrith and his men to stay off the radar because a fleet of crooked Star Brigade bounty hunters had just left and was looking for his mother.

So the Aquapolisians gave Ezrith and his men the coordinates to the space station, which his mother had left them to give to him. Ezrith decided to get there by warp drive. It turned out that his mother was a well-known political rebel in the Euvorix. She was protected by a galactic, anti-government organization. It was called "The Sentient Project". This organization was a secret society of former Brigade operatives who knew Kengi Helix. The thing about this organization was that anyone who had heard of it knew that it affected the status quo of that jurisdictional sect in a positive way. So, however shadowy, it wasn't thought of as corrupt. Thus, knowledge of its existence had been spreading around the Euvorix for some time. They knew of Ezrith's arrival even before the Auapolisians did.

Finally, Lulu arrived at the space station's location. But Ezrith and his men were confused because there was nothing there. All they could see all around was the stars. That was it. But suddenly, the ship started to tremble. They were being pulled in by some type of teleport. A couple of seconds later, they were inside a heavily secured space station which was protected by a ghost cloak and force field. The ship ended up on a small dock. But the ship was being surrounded by a swarm of soldiers in heavy armor. Six of the soldiers entered the ship, telling everyone inside to get down. "We come to you from Plumorita in peace!" Ezrith exclaimed, as one of the soldiers aggressively ordered him to the floor of his ship. Some of the soldiers went to the back of the ship and then came back with the carrier Ezrith found on the Plumoritan harvest planet. Handling it with extreme caution, four of the soldiers brought the carrier to a man who was evidently of high seniority on the space station. Ezrith kept asking where his mother was. Immediately, the old man sent two of his soldiers to bring Ezrith to him and to take the rest of Ezrith's men to the interrogation chambers to be thoroughly questioned separately. They brought Ezrith to the old man, who was so short that Ezrith had to look down at him.

"What are you doing with this?!" the little old man asked Ezrith, pointing down at the carrier, as he signaled his soldiers to stand down. "What?? That stupid box from the Neon Jungle I couldn't get open?! I found that thing on an industrial planet months ago. I don't even know what it is!" Ezrith said. But just before he could fix his mouth to say anything else, the old man kneeled and scanned the carrier with a scanner in his eyepiece. "Its remote communications and weapon systems are damaged, extensively." "What do you mean it's weapons systems??" Ezrith asked the old man. "You stealing and bringing this robot here could put all our lives in danger! You should be glad that this robot hasn't been programmed yet and is in stasis mode." After that, the old man signaled four soldiers to come and quickly take the carrier to a diagnostics lab where the robot would be studied intensely.

After about an hour of being personally interrogated by the old man, the old man apologized and, from that point on, everyone welcomed Ezrith and his men with open arms as if they were family. They even knew more about Ezrith than he expected. He guessed this was because of who his father was. They showed him and his crew hospitality. But all the while, Ezrith wondered where his mother could've been. Had she already been killed? And just before Ezrith could request to see her again, the old man took off a voice-altering mask, revealing a face that made Ezrith's heart speed up with warmth. It was his mother, "Storm".

Some armed men escorted her and Ezrith through a labyrinth of corridors until, finally, they came to a vault-like door that led to her living quarters, which were decadent.

When he was all alone with her, Ezrith couldn't help but melt into tears, saying: "Mother, I thought I would never see your face again!" Sobbing as well, she replied: "I always had an eye on you through my trustees. There's just so much we have to catch up on, Ezrith. There are lots of things you don't know about," she said, taking his hand and leading him to a quiet room with a window that displayed some bright star clusters. After signaling her armed bodyguards to leave her quarters, Ezrith's mother said to him: "I may have left you, but my love is still the same, my son, if not deeper." She then wiped his tears and kissed him softly on the forehead with a tight lingering hug.

"Please excuse the disguise, but when we first heard about your arrival, I had to make sure you weren't a spy."

Immediately, Ezrith started to ask questions. "Uncle Max told me about something called The Pillars and a planet that's supposed to be the birth-world of mankind", he said. But she replied: "Max only knows what he's been told through the legends. "