Blue Nova

Chapter 2: City On Fire

"Dad, what is that?" A fourteen-year-old me says bewildered.

He looks up with utter horror in his eyes. "It can't be... it just can't... be."

My eldest brother looks up at the giant black ship heading straight for the city. "What is that?" Austyn askes beside me.

"And why has it not stopped yet? It's going to crush us at this rate!" Zanak was my youngest brother. My father pulls me and my siblings away. Our mother was at home, with an illness we didn't fully understand. I don't think she knew what was going on outside. We run inside and out of nowhere we hear screaming. And lots of it. I look outside and see people running in all directions. Then my father's com turns on. That is never a good sign. My mother slowly walks out of her room, looking groggy and very unsettled.

"What's going on Kygess? I heard hollering outside. What's it all about?"

His com blinks red. He looks at us in a way I could never describe. It was like he was never gonna see us again.

If only I knew what was about to happen.

"Carii, take the kids as far away from here as possible."

"Wait what?! Dad, what's going on?"

"I'm sorry Zanak..."

"Kygess what is ha-" Before my mother could finish she started coughing, badly. Austyn ran over to her and told me to get her medicine. I ran into her room and caught my breath. The odor here was reached, almost toxic. I quickly stumble to the drawer and grab her injections. But as soon as I do, the ground beneath me starts to shake uncontrollably. The explosions I heard outside were ships falling down from the sky. They got nearer and nearer.

I hear my little brother scream in terror and my mother yelp in pain. I rush to her aid and precariously try to reach her vein through all the shaking, but it's no use. My father's Nova Core ship starts to rumble and he dashes outside to try and reach it. I stumble outside after him and yell his name. Right before his hatch closed he told me to look after their mother.

I don't understand! Why was this happening to me? To all of them?

I watch, what would be the last time I see my father, in pain and confusion. With my bleary vision, I run to Austyn and tell him dad had left. The ground was still shaking due to the force the black ship hurtling towards us with Ravengers at its side. He runs outside, but it's too late. He's gone. Just gone. I know I'm not the most intelligent person in the galaxy, but I knew then, that he wasn't coming back.

I run in my house and grab the medicine I'd made before days ago. I get it in and she staggers, catching her breath as she does. Now able to talk, she asks me where Kygess had gone. I couldn't meet her gaze. I knew she couldn't be able to handle it. Not now and not ever. The ground had stopped shaking beneath us, but that's when I saw destruction on a level I've never seen before. And I knew my father was in it. The core had tried to form a blockade, but now every single ship was blown up. Austyn looked up in horror as I started to sob.

"What happened?!" Zanak shrieked from the home.

"I... I... no... no no no no no. NO!" I slunk to my knees and cried. My brother told us we needed to go. That we needed to get off the planet. I started punching the ground. Why?! Why him... Why now? I should've stopped him... It's my fault... It's all my fault.

Then the ship hit the ground as its deck had blown apart. There was a deadly silence now. Then he came out.

"Behold, your Guardians of the Galaxy..."

Him.

"People of Xandar, the time has come to rejoice and renounce your poultry gods! Your salvation... is at hand. Esalka!"

* * * *

"Hey, you alright?"

I hadn't realized it but I had zoned out. I even felt a few tears in my eyes. 

Lots of people in the room were staring at me

"Did you even here anything I just said?"

"Uh, no. No I did not. And before you ask what I was thinking, it is personal so back off."

"Geez man, you're so touchy."